Students go Googly for top engineering employers

NEW YORK – Google, IBM and Microsoft topped a list of “the most attractive employers in 2012,” according to a global survey of engineering students conducted by Universum, a Stockholm-based company.

Not surprisingly, students surveyed preferred brand name companies, lending credence to the annual survey's claim that it “highlight[s] the world’s most powerful employer brands, those companies that excel in talent attraction and retention.”

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The "World's Most Attractive Employers Index" is based on the employer preferences of students from Brazil, Canada,China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, U.K.and the U.S. Universum asked students to select the employers they would consider working for, then choose their "ideal" employer.
The survey also revealed that working in the global automotive industry is becoming increasingly popular along with oil, gas and energy. Along with Google, IBM and Microsoft, Intel also finished in the top 5.

Thinking globally, many students expressed a desire to work for multinational companies. The exception was Japan, where engineering students listed no overseas companies among their top 10 preferences.

Universum said it surveyed 144,000 students around the world. That total includes both business and engineering majors. The results for each group were divided and released separately.

Apple makes the grade

Universum also released separate national editions of its survey, ranking the most popular employers by country. Apple showed up in most top 20 rankings, including Brazil, China, France, Japan, U.K. and the U.S. Germany, whose most popular employer among engineering students is Audi, chose neither Google nor Apple. India students also left Apple off their list.

Apple was the top employment pick of Chinese engineering students while Google came in at No. 4. Huawei ranked second among Chinese students, but ZTE, China's other telecom equipment giant, didn't make China's top 20 list.

Panasonic was the top choice among Japanese engineering students followed by Sony.

Below are the survey's top 20 rankings. The pages that follow show national rankings.

The results of this survey is a reflection of its international nature first. To a lesser degree it is also a reflection of the diverse backgrounds of the engineering schools these kids are coming from.
I am willing to bet that if you only survey the very best in the World, say those who are graduating in engineering from Caltech, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, the results will show a much larger preference for startup companies!

Air Force? Really!!!? I was an engineer for the Air Force for 15 years and I can say without a doubt that the Air Force has no clue how to employ, engage, manage or utilize engineering talent. Maybe the engineers surveyed were commenting about being a cleared defense contractor for the Air Force.

NASA is hardly in the cellar. The Manned Spaceflight is only a part of what NASA does. Fortunately engineers are not a sell-out to the media and realize many of the science/exploratory missions are really cool stuff. We only need to look at the MSL Mars Curiosity - someone even went a far as making a rap video - check it out on Youtube.

In fact, all large companies consist of many small companies. The trick is to apply for the group that does what you're passionate about.
And too, after a few years, if the grad is on the ball, he will pretty much mold his own job. That's what happens when one's talents become recognized, and when management is doing their job right.

Well, when I was a young engineering grad, I started out at a small company, but I was not satisfied. Why? Because it seemed obvious that the small size was also a big limitation. I suppose if the small company did precisely the kind of work the grad likes, perhaps it's a different matter.
Fortunately, I soon got an offer from one of the very top companies on your US list, and it's been super ever since.
I though what was most interesting is that US grads want to go to (what I consider to be) the really cool stuff, like space. I'm curious why that doesn't translate more to other grads. After all, the space program is multinational.

The sheep go to the large multinationals. The wolves go to startups. If you do insist on going to a multinational then at least ensure that you go to a small team developing new products otherwise you will learn to be a cog in the machine and learn little of value outside a large organisation.

The attractiveness of local companies does not surprise me. Several of my daughter's good friends are currently engineering students, and my observation is that they are very bright and not as naive as many assume. They understand that certain engineering jobs will never be outsourced and will always have citizenship requirements. Perhaps this is the reason we see defense contractors and even the US Air Force on the list for the US students.